Los Angeles Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, right, is as much a defender of Dwight Howard, right, as when he signed the big man. / Kevork Djansezian Getty Images

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

by Sam Amick, USA TODAY Sports

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. ‚?? Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak sat back in the chair in his office on Wednesday, pondering the question before coming to quite the remarkable conclusion.

A Lakers stretch as taxing and torturous as the current one during his 26-year tenure? As he sees it, it doesn't exist.

"There's been no year and a half like the last year and a half," the longtime Lakers executive told USA TODAY Sports in an extensive interview. "We've had some pretty off-the-wall years here ‚?? the year Magic (Johnson) announced (he had HIV), the other lockout year when Del Harris was coaching and Kurt (Rambis) took over and we brought back on Dennis Rodman, and with Shaq (O'Neal) and Kobe (Bryant), maybe even Eddie Jones ‚?? who couldn't seem to get over the hump because everything was crammed into a half a year, and it was like one unpredictable thing (after another). This has been a unique period. I can't think of anything I can compare it to."

The embarrassing sweep by the Dallas Mavericks and Phil Jackson's exit started it all in all the wrong ways, and was followed by the coaching carousel (Jackson to Mike Brown to Mike D'Antoni), the lockout landscape that played a part in Brown's downfall, the underwhelming way their so-called Super Team has performed this season (they're 29-30 and two games out of playoff position in the Western Conference) and the recent passing of Lakers owner Jerry Buss. None of that matters now, though, as the Lakers are looking ahead and hopeful that they can become the eighth seed no one wants to face in the playoffs.

Thursday's win over Minnesota was their 12th in the past 17 games. But success has mostly been fleeting, and ‚?? as Kupchak made clear ‚?? frustrating.

"Frustrating is a great word," he said when asked to pick a word to describe this season. "I don't think anybody, including myself, could have predicted this‚?¶It's been tough to try to pinpoint the problem, too, (because) there have been so many different things ‚?? new players, injuries, new coaches. That's all been frustrating."

Kupchak is well aware that the future will be bright so long as free-agent-to-be Dwight Howard is part of it. To that end, he continued his recent habit of defending the center who has been so heavily criticized for the Lakers' losing.

While Howard returned from his April back surgery to start the season on Oct. 30, he's clearly not himself physically just yet. Howard has consistently said he'll decide if he wants to return in the summer.

"I think he should get more credit for the reality of what has taken place," Kupchak said. "Here's a guy who didn't have to come back. Forget whatever he needs (because of) this summer as a free agent, because doctors are going to say that after a year you're going to be fine. But he came back because after a year he wanted to play and he wanted to win. And then he's also had the torn labrum (in his right shoulder). I just thought he was getting unfairly criticized."

Kupchak can relate to Howard's season more than most, as he had the same back surgery twice in his career. The first came while he was a player at North Carolina in the mid-1970s, and the second came early in his nine-year NBA career.

"They did (the surgery) different then‚?¶but it's the same thing," he said. "And the second one I had, I had it in July and came back in like November and I couldn't make it through the season. I pulled up lame in March. So the second surgery almost took me two years to come back from. It hasn't even been a year yet (for Howard).

"A lot of the symptoms that you had are gone, but in this game you have to coil and recoil and you have to hop on your back and your legs. When your back is (hurting) when you're bending over to brush your teeth ‚?? the back is weird, it's different. So it hasn't even been a year yet."

DWIGHT HOWARD: A MAGICAL RIDE TO LAKER LAND

While Kupchak wasn't ready to say Howard came back too early, he admitted he expected him to return much later than he did.

"I was surprised that he went through training camp and didn't miss a practice," Kupchak said. "I thought that maybe he would do some things on a side basket, and then he'd get in condition and we would maybe see him in December or January. I was surprised. I'm not sure he came back too early, but I think people expected too much, too soon."

Kupchak insists he's not losing sleep over Howard's uncertain future. While Howard spoke earlier in the season as if it was a foregone conclusion that he would re-sign, he has since changed his stance and said he will make up his mind in the summer.

"Losing keeps me up at night," he said. "If we win, why would anybody think to leave Los Angeles? I'm not sure why anyone would think that anyway, but winning solves all the problems.

"We'll take our chances. We feel that this is a great place. Being in the NBA is a great thing ‚?? being able to play for the Lakers in Los Angeles, because of our fans and the advantages that we have, we think that's a great thing. If somebody needs a year, for whatever reason it is, to make their mind up, then that's fine with us."

As is the recent notion that the internal drama can be minimized. After an All-Star break in which the seemingly-icy dynamic between Howard and Bryant was a hot topic, Kupchak said the winning has, not surprisingly, helped the mood in the most unique of star-studded locker rooms.

"To me, it's a pretty simple formula ‚?? we're winning more," he said. "You're not going to have a happy locker room with these kinds of competitors (if you're not winning). Money is not a factor in our locker room, so you don't have guys playing for contracts. You have guys who want to win. And when they're not winning, that creates problems. We're winning at a better clip. And, yes, guys are a little less grumpy, little less edgy."

Should they find a way to make an extended playoff run, everyone from Howard on down may be eager to return for next season.

"For us to get in the playoffs, we're going to have to be playing at a pretty good level," he said. "And if we can get in the playoffs, that means we're playing well. At that point, I would take our chances against anybody in a seven-game series. I wouldn't feel like a typical eighth seed. I just think this group, in a seven-game series during the playoffs, can do it. I really do. But we do have to climb out of this hole and we have to scramble and figure out a way to get in."